Monday, March 31, 2008

Training Week 8: 40 Miles around the Res

Taking a photo of myself before the ride. Didn't freak the camera, anyway.

Back to work! This time it is a Ride Around the Res--at Wachusett, MA. 40 miles were on the agenda, and 41.04 were my count on the bike computer by the time we got back. Lovely day, and I had no trouble at all getting up Rt 111 at the start. Must be those new vitamins. :-) Or maybe it was the pleasant and brave company of NH Coach Don Lamothe and Danielle Miller. Great to see both of them again!

Here's Danielle's happy face before the ride.

Anyway, I know better what I'm doing now, so I can get up a hill if I have to. And with last week's skiing foray, I seem to have my legs under me, and standing is no longer a viable option, except if my butt gets sore.
Here we are at the start, not a bad-sized group with about 15 participants.
Some got past me before I could get the camera out.

We got out to nice sunny start, even though it looks warmer in these pics than it was. The chill didn't bother us once we got going up the Rt 111 hill, and the wind was very kind this week. Last week's ride, I'm told, was badly assailed by gusts. I wouldn't know. I was up Sugarloaf Mountain in 30-mph winds, on skis.

Our first stop at Clinton, MA, 12 miles along.

We look a little colder in the 12-mile stop at Clinton, but the sun was very nice. My blood meter got a little cold sitting on my shoulder the way I had it, so my checks didn't make much sense. I might have been a little high, but I didn't notice any problems physically.

Well, folks, the Res was beautiful, and just to prove it I'm going to have to go out there another sunny day to get some photos. We were moving so well, I didn't stop for a single shot. Guess I have MY priorities straight, but that doesn't do the gentle reader any good, does it?

When we got back to Boxborough, no one wanted a group photo. Maybe the ride left people feeling a little pressed, or just hungry. I'll say it was fun to sit down and snog pizza and pop for an hour, just to go over everything and swap a few stories with the northern crew. I hope we're having this much fun when we get up to NH for a mini-Tahoe around Franconia Notch in a couple-three weeks! Bad weather's already aloft for Saturday again. (Who knew?) But I'll be sure to get some hill climbing in this week!

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